1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to management of voicemail messages, and more specifically to visual techniques for user interaction and management of such messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voicemail systems typically notify a user when the user has one or more new messages. This notification can take the form of an icon on a mobile phone or a light (or stutter dial-tone) on a home phone. This scheme may be sufficient for a user who receives an occasional voicemail message, but with the growing use of voicemail, many users have a multitude of new messages to sort through. Most widely-deployed voicemail platforms require the user to listen to messages sequentially. It is difficult for a user to determine which, if any, voicemail messages they want to listen to without listening to at least part of each of his or her new messages.
Mobile phones display call logs that represent all calls received or dialed by the mobile device. On some devices these logs are combined and on other devices they are displayed as separate lists. A typical mobile phone user also has other phones such as an office phone and a home phone. The user has no integrated view of all their phone calls and voicemail messages.
Some systems place voicemail messages in an audio file, attach that file to an e-mail, and send the e-mail to the user. The user can manage their voicemail using their existing e-mail client. There are some disadvantages of mixing voicemail and email, including the following:                Voicemail files require a large amount of storage space.        In certain contexts, constraints and requirements exist with regard to preservation of e-mail communications. For example, there may be a requirement to archive e-mail communications for some period of time such as seven years. Many of these requirements do not exist for voicemail communications. Accordingly, converting voicemail messages into email messages can impose constraints and requirements that would not otherwise be present for such messages.        Spam filters for e-mail are optimized for e-mail and not for voicemail.        There may be difficulties in keeping the voicemail store in sync with the messages received via email. In some cases, a two-step deletion process is required.        Users may have difficulty listening to voicemail messages if they are checking email from a computer or device that is not equipped for sound, or that does not have the appropriate audio playback software. Privacy concerns exist as well, when for example the user does not have headphones and plays back a voicemail message on a computer speaker that can be easily overheard.        
What is needed, therefore, is an improved technique for managing voicemail messages in a visual way that does not impose the undesired limitations of email-based systems.